Agnes Emma-Nnopu spoke with the media following TCU's 77-52 loss to West Virginia. She scored 18 points, had 5 rebounds and 6 blocked shots.
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00:00 Questions for Agnes if you're all ready. Agnes, you had six blocks tonight, 18 points. When you're going into games like this and the coaches are kind of looking to you later, how do you feel like you've grown as a leader on this team?
00:19 I think I'm still growing as a leader. I feel like trying to be a voice, especially with such a young group out there, is something that I'm trying to develop in my game. But I feel like sometimes the shots aren't falling and all I can really rely on is playing hard. So I feel like the coaches encourage me to continue to keep shooting, but my game has always been just work hard out there.
00:39 Well, and tonight's a game where shots weren't falling and West Virginia put a press on you guys that looked like maybe sped up the game a little bit. I mean, just talk about the pressure that they put on you guys.
00:50 Honestly, I feel like West Virginia's press, and I'm not going to give credit to it, is a good press, but I feel like we sort of shot ourselves in the foot very early. I feel like a lot of these games we're playing, we're playing scared, where the pressure isn't perceived pressure and we're not really making the most of anything like that. So I feel like that press was good, but we didn't take care of the ball. We could have taken care of the ball a little better.
01:15 In the second and third quarters, not a lot of scoring for you guys. Was it just shots last year or was it something that West Virginia was doing? What do you feel like kind of stopped you guys?
01:26 I think that the press played a factor. It took us a while to get the ball over half court and then we had like 20 seconds to score. I think a lot of our shots came at the end of the shot clock, so they were quick rush shots. So I think just working with the guards and breaking the press and making good plays early is what we did a lot better.
01:44 Going into that fourth quarter, what was the message from coach? You guys were down 27 or whatever it was. What's the message going into that quarter?
01:50 The message is you're not going to let somebody come into your home and embarrass you by 30. So I think it was just like, okay, maybe the game isn't winnable at this point, but we've got to play hard at the moment.
02:02 Anything else for Iris?
02:04 How important is it to have Tara, who's distributing the ball to y'all, just out there trying to get those points back up?
02:10 Tara is probably one of our best playmaking guards. So I think for her to be able to have this opportunity to like facilitate is big. I think it's just helping her grow in her confidence as well as being her down the stretch too.
02:22 And how big has it been for y'all to get Sydney Harris back on the court?
02:25 Yeah, it's been big. Sydney, she's a shooter for a while. So I feel like for her continuing to knock down her three and then developing in her defensive aim, she'll also be someone who will definitely rely on a lot down the stretch.
02:36 And then can you talk about Vic's energy? It seems like she still tries to bring the spark even when y'all are down just to get y'all back up.
02:43 Yeah, Vic is obviously she's a freshman when she's playing. She's not playing like a freshman. I think for her it's just the confidence to keep empowering her to continue to shoot her shot when she's missing, helping her bring the ball up the court. I think she's someone who also again, down the stretch.
02:59 And you kind of stepping into that leader position. What is your message to the team as y'all hit the road?
03:06 I think we have five games left with two home games. I think for the seniors just continuing to play hard. Like, obviously, we've had a lot of adversity this season, but nobody's going to come and change that.
03:16 So I think for us just to, you know, try to get these road wins, try to get these lawsuit home wins and put ourselves in the best position to have a long postseason run.
03:25 What do you feel like you've learned just from everything that's happened since early January to now?
03:31 I guess just not to take anything for granted. Obviously, like with Jada, this is her last year of college and having a senior leader like that go out and like she's not able to finish her last year of college.
03:40 I think for me, it's like, okay, cherish every moment I get on the court. Like leave everything out there because I don't know when it'll be my last one.
03:48 All right. Thank you guys. Thank you.